Currently in the Twin Cities — August 25, 2023: The return of pleasant weather

The weather, currently.

Wednesday’s high temperature of 98 degrees was again a record breaker. We’ve never had two consecutive days as hot as Tuesday and Wednesday this late in a season. Climate Central’s ‘Climate Shift Index’ puts the heat of the last two days at 50% to as much as twice as likely due to human caused climate change.

We’ll have a few spotty showers possible Friday as a disturbance brings cooler air in for the weekend. Highs Saturday and Sunday will be in the 70s to low 80s with a big drop in dew points. It should remain pleasant into the middle of next week.

— Sven Sundgaard

What you need to know, currently.

Houston had its hottest day in history on Thursday, with temperatures climbing as high as 109°F (42.8°C).

Officials in Houston warned that rolling blackouts might be necessary to avoid catastrophic power outages, as demand for air conditioning and electricity was near a record high.

Thursday’s high temperature mark in Houston tied other equally warm days in 2000 and 2011, when Texas emergency rooms filled with patients seeking care from heat related illness and injury. This time around, the city has issued mandatory water restrictions, banning outdoor water use in an attempt to keep up water pressure as reservoir levels fall due to drought.

Meanwhile, in Chicago, Thursday’s high temperature was 100°F — and it felt like 120°F (48.9°C) when you factored in the humidity. That’s the highest heat index in that city’s history. This week’s heat wave in Chicago rivals the one back in July 1995, which was one of the deadliest heat waves in US history.

—Eric Holthaus

What you can do, currently.

The fires in Maui have struck at the heart of Hawaiian heritage, and if you’d like to support survivors, here are good places to start:

The fires burned through the capital town of the Kingdom of Hawaii, the ancestral and present home to native Hawaiians on their original unceded lands. One of the buildings destroyed was the Na ‘Aikane o Maui cultural center, a gathering place for the Hawaiian community to organize and celebrate.

If you’d like to help the community rebuild and restore the cultural center, a fund has been established that is accepting donations — specify “donation for Na ‘Aikane” on this Venmo link.